HESPERIA – An Irvine-based investment group announced it has negotiated the sale of a large retail pad at a shopping center on Main Street near Hesperia High School — which a city official lauded as yet another sign of an economic upswing.
The Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors announced Monday that William B. Asher and Jeff Hauber of the group negotiated the sale of a 5,000-square-foot pad to the Stater Bros.– anchored shopping center, located at 14380 Main St. near Maple Avenue.
Hesperia Mayor Thurston “Smitty” Smith said the move sends a message to other investors that the city of Hesperia is a safe and healthy place to do business.
“It’s a real confidence booster for investors, and it tells people on the sidelines that it’s time to move and that Hesperia is on an upswing,” said Smith after attending the groundbreaking for the Speed Wash near the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Tuesday. “The car wash will employee about 20 people, so anything that creates jobs is a good thing. Let’s see what goes up on the new pad.”
The purchase price for the pad was $1,330,000, representing a cap rate of 6.77 percent. The cap rate is the rate of return on a real estate investment property based on the expected income the property will generate.
The grocery-anchored shopping center was 100 percent occupied at the time of the sale, according to the group’s news release.
“We generated over 20 offers, showing the demand for this type of multi-tenant retail is at historic levels once again, even outpacing the last peak in 2007,” Asher said in the release.
The Hanley group, a U.S investment group for the sale of retail properties, said the buyer is a private investor based in Torrance and represented by Brian Rhie of AB Real Estate in Los Angeles. The seller, represented by Asher and Hauber, was a private investor from La Habra.
The Hesperia deal was part of the group’s announcement the company closed out the month of December with the sale of 10 retail properties, totaling nearly $61 million.
Edward B. Hanley, president of the investment group, said the 2013 retail investment market finished with more sales than even the most optimistic analysts predicted at the beginning of the year, according to the release.